Saturday, April 27, 2013

Garmisch Partenkirchen, Innsbruck and Lindau

Just a quick note to those who regularly read this blog: Thanks! I really appreciate it, and I enjoy your reactions on Facebook and here very much. It is fun to share what I am seeing with you. :)

We (Ruthiey, Hannah and her sister Grace and I) are now in Germany, we left the UK on the 23rd after seeing Les Miserables in London on the 22nd! Wow what an experience!

I am very curious as to the color of this river in Garmisch Partenkirchen, which is a smallish town about 1 1/2 hours by train south of Munich, near the Austrian border. I felt that all my senses woke up after we left the cities and went out to this beautiful town. The smells of flowers and trees. The sights of sunshine everywhere, and all the bright colors. The sounds of flowing water, wind, the beautiful German language, and trains.

This felt like a pretend backdrop to a film set, but it was all so real and beautiful. We joked that it would be funny if suddenly the backdrop fell away and we were in the Arizona desert. It is odd seeing snow on the Alps, but feeling so warm!

We did a hike up to a restaurant with a neat over view of the valley of Garmisch Partenkirchen.

We have been traveling a lot by train. I decided that may be my favorite way to travel, especially these trains with epic views of mountains and lakes.

We went to Innsbruck, Austria for a day. That was really pretty as well, we shopped and watched some music being performed on the street and ate gelato.

We have been on the train almost everyday since we arrived in Germany. Thankfully we figured out an amazing group ticket deal that allows us unlimited travel for all of us for the day!

Of course in new countries there are new vending machines. I found this strange looking snack on one of our train trips.

We went to Lindau, Germany which is also near the border of Austria and also Switzerland. It is partly located on an island out on Lake Constance or Bodensee as it is called in German.

These protective pair of parent swans were almost killing a couple of ducks who'd gotten too close by biting their necks and dragging them around. The hissing was horribly frightening to a child who was watching the attempted duck slaying.

This lighthouse in Lindau is the only lighthouse in Baveria, which is the largest state in Germany. It is finally tee-shirt weather for us!

We tried to find some Bratwursts to eat in Lindau but we decided they were too expensive for us in that area and instead we tried an Asian place that was super cheap but had massive delicious portions of rice and noodles. Yummy! Also Germany eat a lot of bread so we weren't too sorry to take a break from bread and rolls!

I never would have thought I would've been enjoying Asian food in Germany. :)